Fat Frog is a new name on me, but discovery is the beauty of life! Fat Frog is in fact Matt Easterling, owner of London based label PurpleFade Records. This summer sees the release of their first 7″ single and it is a moody piece of vinyl, all atmosphere and brooding contemplation.

Step By Step is available both as a single and a digital download, which includes some extra remixes. The A side features vocals by reggae veteran Earl Sixteen, you can read more about Earl in my last post on the new Indica Dubs single. So what can you expect from this single? There is a nice contrast between the backing track and the vocals. The riddim is heavy and measured and as I mentioned before it has a brooding feel to it, almost like something big and not very nice is going to happen. In contrast Earl’s vocals give us some hope and brightness. The lyrics ‘one by one we are moving on, out of Babylon’ sum it up perfectly, leave the heavy crap behind and find the promised land. I think that is something we all strive for, a message for modern life.

The B-side dub by the esteemed Dougie Conscious, gives the excellent trumpet line more space and this complements the heavier dub style. The dub is excellent, very atmospheric, just what you would expect from a top rank producer like Mr Conscious. Make sure you don’t miss out on the bonus dubs which you get when you purchase the 7″ from the Fat Frog Bandcamp site. The different takes on the tune are well worth picking up.

Matt has a great attitude and certainly sounds ambitious, I lifted this from their press release, ‘We at PurpleFade Records are ready to take on the world with our tinted dub music released on vinyl and digital format. Make sure to take part in our journey through dub, rhythm and sound.’ It’s going to be exciting to follow Matt and PurpleFade, if Step By Step is anything to go by we are in for some dubby treats.

Have a listen below to the Fat Frog Soundcloud site for some samples. Please share this on Facebook, just one click on the icons makes me very happy. Bless, Paper Lion